Improvement in vessels for cooking by steam



2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. s. HALL.

Domestic Steamer. 7 No. 41,618. Patenied Feb. 16, 1864.

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UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYDIA S. HALL, OF W'ASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN VESSELS FOR COOKING BY'STEAM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,618, dated February 16, 1864.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYDIA S. HALL, a native of the State of Maine, now residing in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented a new and improved combination and arrangement of cooking utensils, applicable to steam cookery in its widest range, all within one boiler; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.

The nature of my invention is shown in an arrangement at once cheap, novel, simple, convenient, and skillful, by which any number of varieties, both of solids and fluids, may be cooked at once in any close-covered boiler, without either contact with each other or with the water or steam of the boiler. The combinations in which I have chosen to bring my invention beforethe publicIha-vestyled the caster steamer and the double steamer. These contain eight distinct compartments, and the number may be indefinitely increased, according to the size of the boiler. The former may contain four, five, or six kettles, in either case economizing both steam and room, occupying less than half the depth of an ordinary cook-stove boiler, and may be placed either at the top or bottom of the boiler, at the option of the cook. The double steamer, with its two large compartments, may be used with or without the caster, and vice versa. It is well known in the kitchen that steam never burns what it cooks; hence it is adapted to meats and vegetables, bread and cake, and especially to all varieties of fruits, both fresh and dried, to puddings and the many preparations of rice, sage, cornstarch, farina, &c., and to every dish of which heated milk is an ingredient.

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section-of the boiler with the steamers in their places.

Fig. 2 gives a horizontal view of the plate or top of the caster-frame, seen at a a, Fig. 1. The spaces b b, Fig. 2, receive the kettles b b, as in Figs. 3 and 1. The two side spaces are each provided with a bracket, 6, which, being removed, as at 0, leaves room for the kettle c, Fig; 1. When replaced, as at c, Fig. 2,

the spaces (1 d are adapted to the kettles d d, Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 shows these kettles to be tin pails, all of a depth, and slightly sloping, each provided with a bail and cover. They rest by their rims on the top of the frame, and extend nearly to the bottom. As pails they will find many uses in household economy. The plate, Fig. 2, in which they stand in Figs. 1 and 3, is attached by bars ff, Fig. 1, to a broad flat ring, 9 g, which rests on the outer edge of the boiler-bottom.

Fig. 4 is a similar frame, substituting for the plate at top, a flat ring like the bottom one. Its only use is to support the caster in the top of the boiler, when it is desirable to use the lower half of the boiler for other purposes.

Fig. 5 is aitop view of the double steamer. Being at the top the same size of the boiler, the same cover fits both, and its rim holds it in place. It is made slightly sloping toward the bottom, and occupies nearlyhalf the boiler. The tube 6 in the center is soldered watertight at bottom, and facilitates cookery by letting the steam up the center, as the outer slope admits it all around the large steamer. The partitions h h divide it into two compartments, k 70. The tube t is indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1. The water may come half-way up the caster without detriment to the contents.

Fig. 2, the openings show ample room for the steam to ascend, enveloping the entire caster and all save the top 'of the double steamer, whose contents will cook quicker than in the old steamer placed above the boiler. Cookery in the caster will progress as rapidly as though the separate kettles were boiling on the stove, and with no danger of burning.

Figs. 1 and 5, the tube 2' may be fitted with another kettle, sloping, or it may pass through the cover and receive on the outside a platter, heater, or any vessel made with a bottom to fit deep into the steam.

The large unperforated surface of this dou ble steamer admirably adapts it to the cooking of fish, poultry, steak, or other meat, as well as vegetables.

I claim to have invented, and desire to se- 3. The combination of the double steamer, cure by Letters Patentthe caster-steamer, and the boiler, constructed 1. The castersteamer, in combination with and operating as above described. the boiler, constructed and operating substan- LYDIA s HALL.

tially as above described.

2. The double steamer, in combination with WVitnesses: the caster-steamer, constructed and operating L. B. TRUE, as above described. 0. W. BRADLEY TRUE. 

